FLOOD OF BLAZING OIL

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 56, 4 May 1928, Page 6

FLOOD OF BLAZING OIL

SHIP SPLIT IN TWO. TOKIO, February 20. Accounts given by the survivors of the 7000-ton oil tanker Chuky, which blew up n't .sea oil Wednesday, give a vivid impression of the terrible fate that must have been suffered by the 14 men—including the captain—who are presumed to be dead. The disaster occurred while the vessel Was within 100 miles cf Japan-: she was Marrying ILQ',OOO tons! of crude oil at the time-. On. Wednesday morning there wa.s. a;n explosion in: the. oil tanks, followed by a second and more violent explosion; which split thci ishipi ti'n two. The forward half turned turtle and sank. The survivors believed that thei captain and. all those forward were killed bv the first explosion, except: a, deckhand,, Who was seen dashing aft when the second explosion occurred. An avalanche of blazing oil poured but and spvepd over the sea, making it impossible for the survivors to .launch a lifeboat until the flames had subsided-, After 29 hours in the lifeboat, in /p&rishing cold, the) 21 survivors, including: 'severtil who had been injured, were picked up by a. Japanese trawler and taken into a fishing village, where they Were) shown tile greatest kindness. T,he, naval authorities despatches'! a destroyer yesterday, but although the warship searched tliei scene of! the disaster through the night neither anv survivor* nor the bodies'' of any oi t-lie fourteen missing were found. . ~